


Take me away to some place real

by ddugeun



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-30
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2018-02-15 08:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2222145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddugeun/pseuds/ddugeun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin looks over at Haruka, hand placed in exactly the same spot as the times before, and smiles before asking, “Are you happy?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take me away to some place real

**Author's Note:**

> ((very very veRY)) Heavily based off Home by Gabrielle Aplin.
> 
> I feel like this was a very important thing for me to write, from a personal perspective and also after episode 9. 
> 
> Any feedback at all would be greatly appreciated! enjoy n_n ♡

“Let’s just go.” Rin says suddenly over his now stone cold cup of coffee.

“Go where?” Haru asks in return, looking up through his eyelashes.

Rin sighs, clutching the cup between his fingers a little tighter, “I don’t care. Anywhere.” he mutters.

Haru thinks about his friends. Would Makoto miss him? Rei? Nagisa? Gou? He doesn’t doubt they would - but he knows they’d survive without him for a little bit.

He looks at his surroundings. They’re sat in a rundown cafe on the outskirts of the college campus. The lights are dim - something to do with energy saving light bulbs and a _Green Scheme_ \- and the coffee is pretty bad. He glances outside through the window and watches the raindrops trickle down the cool glass, fingerprints from curious hands smudged across it. He watches as two separate raindrops slide down the glass, somehow melding together about half way down. Haru looks past the window and looks at the dull grey skies of Tokyo; people rushing around under a sea of umbrellas. Haru watches as one man shields himself with a newspaper, ducking into the first open shop.

His eyes slide back over to Rin who is already looking at him, eyes burning desperately with askance, and what Haru also thinks is despair. Rin is not only asking to leave, he is begging. So Haru nods in assent, because anywhere is better than here.

//

They set off the day after. He only tells Makoto, sending him a quick text to tell him he’s going to be away for a while. He doesn’t specify why, or when, but his phone is turned off before he gets a reply.

Rin wraps one hand around the steering wheel, squeezing until his knuckles turn white as he slides his other hand across to the passenger seat, to place it on Haru’s thigh. Haru isn’t too sure what the gesture means, whether it’s a comforting one or something more. He gives Rin a slide glance and watches as the harsh lights from the street lamps and other cars flit across his face; shadows form on his soft features, dancing as the car moves, making his skin look paler, a sharp contrast with his fierce red coloured hair.

“Where are we going?” Haru whispers, not wanting to interrupt the comfortable silence which stretches between them.

“Doesn’t matter,” Rin begins, his tongue slipping out to swipe mindlessly across his bottom lip, “You’re here and I’m here. So it doesn’t matter.”

It wasn’t the answer he was looking for, but Haru nods and tears his eyes away from Rin’s face reluctantly to look out of the windscreen, seeing the landscape ahead become nothing but a mere blur.

//

Rin laughs loudly a few days into their trip, eyes crinkling up at the corners and mouth opening impossibly wide. It’s been so, so long since he last heard that noise. To see Rin, head thrown back and hands clutching his stomach, tears building at the corner of his eyes; it makes something almost snap inside Haru, but he catches himself before he can say or do anything. Instead, he laughs along with Rin, despite the fact he didn’t even hear what was so funny. It doesn’t matter, whatever it was, it was generous enough to give Haru the Rin he loved the most. Happy and carefree. Weightless, without any burdens on his shoulders. _Free_. So Haru carries on laughing with Rin, tears forming at the corners of his eyes as well, because it doesn’t matter.

//

Rin’s hand has made its way back onto Haru’s thigh again, and Haru can feel the heat seeping through his jeans as they sit on a bench, looking out at the park in front of them. It’s a nice day, clear skies and a blissful breeze to stir up the air in between.

Haru sighs and turns his head to glance at Rin. Rin is already looking at him, lips slightly parted and eyes bright.

And Haru has been trying so hard not to snap, to break in half and let everything out, but he can’t catch himself this time as he falls.

“I think I love you.”

Haru’s breath catches in his throat after the words are out, and what seems like a lifetime is only a few seconds, and he opens his mouth to apologise, but stops when Rin’s trembling lips meet his.

They always say that the first kiss is the sweetest, the most cherished, and by the way that Haru clings onto Rin - fingers clutching at his biceps - his thinks that they are right.

Their lips are soft against each other’s, only lightly touching and yet Haru thinks that he’s already in Heaven.

Rin places his hand on the back of Haru’s neck and pulls him forward, their lips pressed firmly together as they move in sync.

The noise of the world around them slows down, everything blurring together and becoming too far away to hear clearly. It doesn’t matter anyway.

//

Haru lies down on the grass, arms behind his head as he looks up at the pitch black sky, only a few shining stars looking back down at him. He hears a rustling from beside him and feels Rin press up against him. He doesn’t look at Rin, his eyes too focused on the sky above.

“Haru,” Rin says, hot breath and lips tickling his ear.

“Yeah?” he replies, blinking a few times as goose bumps break out across his neck when he feels Rin’s breath fan against the side of his face.

They don’t speak for a while, Rin shifting to lie on his side while propping his head up by the palm of his hand.

Haru’s eyelids suddenly feel heavy, and he lets them slide shut because there’s no reason to keep them open - he always sees Rin when he’s sleeping anyway.

His breathing evens out, and he’s about to slip away into unconsciousness when he hears a distant, “I think I love you too.”

He pretends not to hear it as Rin rakes his fingers gently through his hair soothingly, making it hard to stay awake for any longer.

//

Haru slowly loses track of the days as him and Rin continue to drive over roads. Only stopping to eat, fill up the tank and sleep.

Haru doesn’t know how long it’s been since he left Tokyo, or if he’s even left Tokyo at all, but he doesn’t really care because he’s never felt so free in his whole life. It finally feels like he's spread his wings and is flying. He doesn’t want to give this up - this weightless feeling he has - but he knows that he’ll have to. That when Rin finally pulls up somewhere he recognises, the delusion he’s fallen into will crack at the edges and shatter.

He hopes, he begs for that never to come. Because if he could stay with Rin forever, in his small 5 seater car that his mum bought him, driving around with no destination decided, he would.

//

Rin looks over at Haru, hand placed in exactly the same spot as the times before, and smiles before asking, “Are you happy?”

Haru thinks. He doesn’t miss home - he’s had no time to do so - and he doesn’t want to go back to his grotty dorm room. He doesn’t want to go back to his usual life. A mundane existence, full of boredom and anxiety.

He feels lost when he’s at college. He always attends his lessons, he tries to pay attention, but it never feels right. He doesn’t feel the fullness in his heart, he doesn’t feel any excitement or fulfillment and he doesn’t feel like he’s going anywhere. College has him grounded, it has him in a strict routine and he feels _suffocated._ Haru has never been like that. He’s always loved his freedom, his right to roam around - to come as he pleases and leave when he wants - but this life; a life of routine and rules, it’s crushing him inside.

Instead, he wants to travel. He wants to see the world, visit new places and swim in different oceans. Japan will always be his home, and Iwatobi will always be his safe place. Tokyo is so different, so large and swarming with people, but he feels trapped in a bubble.

He wants to watch Rin concentrate on the road ahead of them.

He wants light touches and gentle pressing of lips together.

He wants to gaze out the window as the scenery flies past by, nothing but an inkling of colours merged together.

Haru’s dorm wasn’t his home anymore, the passenger seat in Rin’s car was.

Home is where the heart is, right?

Haru’s heart is in that car, on the road, with Rin by his side.

Then, he feels it.

His heart swelling, his blood pumping, a flush on his cheeks and - _breathes_ \- alive.

“Yes,” Haru replies, entwining his fingers with Rin’s, “I’m happy.”


End file.
